An American author has lifted the lid on her life with Tom Jones, claiming she enjoyed a three-year affair with the star.

Charlotte Laws says she first met the Sex Bomb singer at a concert in Florida in 1979, when she was 18.

She claims Sir Tom, now 74, invited her to dinner and the pair ended up at Studio 51 in Fort Lauderdale with his son Mark, his publicist, and a warm-up comic.

Charlotte says later, back at his suite in the Executive House Hotel, Tom took her virginity.

Charlotte Laws has released a book (Image: twitter/CharlotteLaws)

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Charlotte said: "I told him it was my first time, and he held my hand and said, 'Are you sure you want to go through with this?' He was a real gentleman."

Tom married his childhood sweetheart Linda when they were both 16 but he slept with up to 250 girls a year at the height of his fame.

But he and Linda, who prefers to stay out of the limelight, have remained married. As Tom sang in one song: “All roads always go back to Linda.”

Gushing about her own experience with the star, Charlotte claimed the Delilah siger never spoke disrespectfully of his wife, never did drugs, and didn't drink to excess, although she claimed wife Linda "ignored his behaviour".

Tom Jones during BBC1 talent show The Voice (Image: BBC)

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: "What impressed me was that he was well-read and self-educated. We discussed racism and equality.

"He had a black, all-girl back-up band called The Blossoms, and when some idiot made a racist remark in his dressing room one night he threw them out."

She continued: "I met Tom’s mum, dad, sister and, of course, Mark.

"There was nothing secretive about our relationship.

Tom Jones pictured with his wife Linda (Image: Mirrorpix)

"We walked into a disco one night and a man shouted: 'Is that your wife?' and Tom said 'No'. Then the guy yelled 'Is that your woman?' and he smiled and said 'Yes.'"

Charlotte has a pile of scrapbooks documenting the three years she says she spent as Tom's mistress, during which the pair would meet every two or three months.

She says the first time the pair met after that period was during a chance meeting in Las Vegas in 2010, and claims they remain friends.

(Image: BBC)

Charlotte has written about her claims in her memoir, Rebels in High Heels, published this week.

During an interview in 2012 Tom gushed over wife Linda, saying: "I’m still in love with Linda today. We’ve gone through thick and thin. I also remember all those times growing up ­together which is why we will never split, no matter what has ­happened or what I've done."

He continued: "Well the road always leads back to Linda, you know.

"Some people drift apart but my wife and I haven’t. And we are friends. That’s another thing. You have to be friends as well."